PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland -- Hours before Scottie Scheffler sent his first Sunday tee shot into the air, tapped in for a kick-in birdie and began his 18-hole coronation, the player who last won The Open when it came to Portrush fired an iron 183 yards toward the fourth green and watched as his ball trickled in.
The crowd erupted; Shane Lowry threw his hands in the air. When he turned toward his caddie, cameras caught his remark.
"This game," he said, "will drive you mad."
To nearly every player in the field this week, that adage about golf rings true in a different way.